Copenhell once again proved to be an awesome "little" metal festival taking place for the third time in the middle of nowhere at Refshaleøen very close to Copenhagen. It's not that small anymore - boosting some 10.000 visitors and the line-up just keeps getting more impressive year after year. The festival is visited by very friendly metal-heads ready to party like crazy and it has an awesome atmosphere. The festival is incredibly well-organized and everything just works smooth and easy. You'll get addicted to the festival, so if you go there once, be prepared to accept that you'll have to come back the year after.
The 2012 line-up featured: KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, ANTHRAX, MASTODON, SLAYER, SKELETONWITCH, BRUTAL TRUTH, ALL SHALL PERISH, GOJIRA, SAXON, MESHUGGAH, IMMORTAL, LAMB OF GOD, MARILYN MANSON, DYING FETUS, KORPIKLAANI, TRIVIUM, SOULFLY.
The biggest high-lights for me were:
Immortal was worth the ticket price alone for me. I'd seen them live previously at Roskilde in 2003 and at W:O:A in 2010. Both times blew me away. This year was no different. In fact i think this might have been one of the best metal concerts ever played in Denmark. Immortal live is cold and beautiful. It's snow and ice storms on stage. They are thundering fast and incredibly skilled musicians performing amazing songs of great complexity. Singer and guitarist Abbath is a laugh to witness because he never takes himself too seriously. Metal-pandas rule the kingdom of Blashyrkh and soon the whole world will be covered in frost and ice and it will be the time of the ravens.
Anthrax live was a first time for me. They surely played one hell of a gig, the crowd loved it and I immediately fell in love with their catchy punk metal. I ran and bought their "Anthrology" 2cd shortly after and it hasn't left my player since. I will certainly be back for more when they come back to Denmark in autumn.
Slayer hammered down everything like Slayer always does. I've seen them a couple of times now. I'll never become a great fan of their music, but i cannot deny that they have a serious punch live and it is always a great spectacle to watch or to go crazy to in the mosh-pit.
I didn't see all bands perform, but Killswitch Engange, Mastodon, Gojira, Meshuggah and Lamb Of God all provided great entertainment for me for various reasons.
The biggest disappointment was:
Marilyn Manson played a disaster of a gig. The rain was hammering down, he was 20 minutes late, and when he finally began the show he was unfocused, his voice was worse than ever. He's never been a great singer live but this night he basically just screamed more than sing. The band clearly used a back-track so it was only semi-live, the general sound quality was shite and the show mostly looked like re-used props and stunts from earlier shows. I've seen him many times since "Mechanical Animals" and the trend is clear: it gets worse for every tour. He is seriously not worth the ticket price any longer. I left the gig after some 30 or 40 minutes. I'd had enough of this live concert parody and enough of the rain. I went to a beer tent and checked out Motörhead's wine. It tasted like piss. Sorry, Lem.
Immortal - "Beyond The North Waves":
Immortal - Beyond The North Waves (CopenHell 2012) from KPs video nightmare on Vimeo.
Rating: 
Bands: Immortal, Marilyn Manson, Anthrax, Slayer, Mastodon
Venue: Copenhell, Copenhagen, DK
Concert Date: 2012-06-15
Ticket Price (DKK): 735
Ticket Provider: Billetlugen
Content Type: Concert Review
Language: 
Updated: 2012-06-26 17:18
Created: 2012-06-26 12:41
